Hash

The Hash character (#) is called by many names:

• gate
• sharp
• cross-hash
• numeral sign
• number sign
• pound sign
• tic-tac-toe
• octothorpe
• “the square key” at one telephone banking company
• square (on some British Telecom services, e.g. when activating call divert)
• “iigeta jirushi” Japanese for “the sign of the well”, for its resemblance to the Chinese character for water well.
• “Raute” in German
• “Gato” in Mexico and some other Spanish-speaking countries (“gato” is the name for tic-tac-toe)
• “Michi” in Peru (Mich is a common name for a cat, and cat in Spanish is “gato”)
• Dièse in French
• In Swedish:
  • fyrkant – Non-rounded four-cornered shape
  • brädgà¥rd \brà¦Ã‹Âdgoːɖ\ – Lumber yard, referring to stacked planks
  • staket \stɑːkeːʈ\ – Fence
  • nummertecken – Number sign
  • vedstapel – Wood pile
  • haga – Bending “hage”, meaning enclosed pasture, into a verb, making it translate into “making an enclosed pasture” in present tense.
  • grind \grinːd\ – Fence gate

Calling # the pound sign comes from the archaic practice of using a “#” suffix to tag pound weights on bills of lading. Outside of the US, the term pound sign is used to refer to the pound currency.

See also:

• Wikipedia
• Online Computing Dictionary